Fallen
by joshuaorrizonte
Summary: Seven years after the worlds are reunited, Kratos and Yuan return, but for what purpose? (SPOILERS)
1. New Beginnings

Derris-Kharlan drifted for days. The two Seraphim passed the time by reading the many books in Vinheim, usually for the third or fourth time. Eventually the one who used to be human gave up as he recited the next five paragraphs of his reading to his blue-haired companion, who laughed, shook his head, and resumed his own reading.

Kratos Aurion closed the text and placed it on a table beside him, chosing instead to gaze out the window into the darkness of space. After a few minutes he frowned. "Origin," he intoned.

_Yes, Kratos._ The man had been the Summon Spirit's seal for ages; sometimes Origin had been his only companion. Although the seal had been released, a connection remained between spirit and man. Either could now sever it; neither was inclined to. "We're not moving away from the world anymore."

_Indeed, we're not._ Yuan looked up at Kratos curiously, hearing only his side of the conversation. Long, long ago, when Origin was first sealed by Kratos' life, Yuan had thought his childhood friend insane the first time he heard such a discussion. He had long since learned to take such unnerving conversations in stride, and to pay attention to them; they were usually important.

"Why aren't we?"

_The Master of the Pact- Lloyd-

* * *

_

"Origin," the teenager breathed, watching the planet of solid mana drift away. Knowing he had the Summon Spirit's attention even though he didn't respond, Lloyd continued, "Make sure Derris-Kharlan doesn't drift past the reach of the Eternal Sword."

_You wish Kratos to remain near to you._

"Well, yeah," Lloyd answered. "He's my... my dad. I've finally found him after all these years." His voice turned thoughtful. "You don't think I'd just let him go that easily, so soon after finding him, do you?"

* * *

Yuan put his book down as Kratos chuckled. The half-elf assumed his companion had finally lost his mind and gazed sympathetically at him. His uneasy assumption was put to rest when Kratos turned his gaze to him. "Lloyd ordered Origin not to allow Derris-Kharlan to drift beyond the reach of the Eternal sword."

"I should've known it was his doing," Yuan replied with a slight smile and he picked up his book again. "So should you, actually."

"Origin, I can't override Lloyd's orders, can I?"

_You cannot. _The spirit sounded amused. _You are no longer my seal._

"I wouldn't be able to even if I was."

_That is correct._

Kratos sat back. "Well, we're stuck where we are."

"Indeed."

* * *

_Two years later..._

"It's a boy!"

Colette Irving leaned back, breathing heavily as she listened to her son's newborn sobs. Piercing pain shot through the woman again and she screamed; Raine Sage was at her side in an instant. "Take the child and clean him up," she ordered the teenager who was assisting her.

Just at that moment, Lloyd Irving-Aurion burst into the room. His gaze fell on his newborn son and his eyes softened, but his voice was disappointed. "I missed it."

"You missed one," Raine replied. Colette screamed again and Genis Sage hesitated. "Go!" Raine shouted at him and Genis fled with the bundle.

Lloyd watched his childhood friend leave the room with a barely-audible, "Congratulations, Dad," and turned back to his wife and teacher, the color quickly draining from his face. "There's another one?"

"Apparently so," Raine answered, positioning herself between Colette's legs again. "Okay, dear, let's get this over with quickly," she said in a soothing tone. "Push. Lloyd, go hold her hand."

Lloyd did as he was told. Colette's fingers closed over his and he squeezed them. She squeezed back, her grip suddenly becoming painful and then dangerous as she pushed with all her might, a steady shriek coming from her as she did. Her energy spent on that one push, she fell back on her pillow, shaking her head. "I can't do this," she said in a pained and terrified voice.

"You can," Lloyd answered, unable to keep his voice calm.

"I can't."

"You have to, Colette," Raine replied. "Come on, I can see the head. Just two more pushes. Let's go, sweetie."

Colette answered by pushing again, again accenting the act with a steady scream of pain. She fell back on her pillow, loosing her grip on Lloyd's hand, much to his relief. "He's almost here," Raine encouraged. "One more, push!"

Once more, Colette pushed; the pain lessened abruptly and Raine smacked the child on the bottom lightly, starting his crying. "Well done, Colette. It's a boy."

The former Chosen fell back one last time, crying tears of relief and joy. Raine wrapped the baby up in a second blanket and thrust him at Lloyd. "Go wash him up. It's repentence for missing your firstborn's birth."

Lloyd took the bundle hesitantly. "I think my hand's broken."

"Your hand's not broken," Raine answered as Colette laughed.

"It feels like it."

Raine put her hands on the one Colette had been holding and closed her eyes. "First Aid," she murmmured, and a warm glow surrounded his hand for a second. "There, better?" she asked, taking her hands away from his. Lloyd nodded, smiling brightly; Raine returned his smile. She couldn't remember her student ever seeming so happy. "Now go clean your son up, Lloyd. I'll take care of Colette."

Lloyd bent and kissed Colette's forehead; the woman was already drifting to sleep. She muttered something unintelligable and Lloyd wandered down the stairs, to the main area of the house, where Genis and Dirk sat talking quietly. Dirk held the baby now, and halted mid-sentence to look at Lloyd and grin. "Congratulations, son!"

"Twice over," Genis added with a chuckle. The teenager's voice was starting to change and deepen, and the chuckle caused his voice to crack; he blushed but Lloyd politely ignored it.

"Thanks, you two," he said quietly. "I hope you didn't have to hold her hand, Genis."

"I refused to," he answered. "There was no way I was going to hold her hand with how much she was screaming. I think she would've probably broken it."

Lloyd nodded. "I think she almost broke mine," he said with a grin, taking the baby to the sink and running water over a free hand, holding the baby in the other. Once the water was lukewarm, he carefully unwrapped the bundle and placed it gently in the sink; the child's calmed cries resumed and he sighed.

"Have you named them yet, Lloyd?" Dirk asked, rocking the child he held.

Lloyd nodded, not turning his attention away from the baby he was washing. "We decided on baby names when we found out Colette was pregnant. Our first boy would be named Kratos and our second would be Dirk, if we second." He imagined his foster father blushing at this, and smiled, but kept his gaze on his son. "I'm going to assume he's Kratos and this one's Dirk."

"A fair assumption," Genis said with a nod. "Lloyd, I have to get going. There's a big test in two days and I haven't studied at all."

"That's okay," Lloyd said, shutting off the water and grabbing a towel. "I'm glad you were here for Kratos' birth. You're the one I wanted to be since I was late."

"Thanks. Just let me hold Dirk for a minute, okay?"

Lloyd finished drying the baby and handed him to Genis, towel and all. Genis moved the towel out of the baby's face and cooed at him, trying to coax a smile. All he succeeded in doing was putting the child to sleep and Genis chuckled again, handing the baby back to Lloyd. "Thanks. Tell Colette congratulations for me, okay?"

"You got it." Genis left, closing the door softly behind him.

Dirk stood and offered Lloyd the bundle he held. "I'll trade ya." Lloyd laughed and they exchanged babies. "Hope you can tell them apart now," Dirk commented with a grin, gazing at the baby in his arms. "They look just like you."

"They do not! I'm not all red!"

Dirk laughed. "So what excuse did that airheaded friend of yours come up with for not coming with you to see your babies?"

Lloyd made a face. "Zelos? He claimed he couldn't stand the sight of blood. He's the reason I was late, I kept trying to get him to come with me."

Dirk shook his head, clucking his tongue. "Shoulda just let him be. You know he's as strong-willed as you."

"I know." Lloyd looked at his son Dirk sadly. "I'm going to have to leave again in a few days, Dad," he said. "Zelos said to take all the time I needed, but I'm don't want to put off the journey too long."

"I'm sure Colette will understand," Dirk replied gently. "She told me she doesn't want you to take too much time, either. She's afraid you'll settle down and not want to go back out to finish gathering and destroying those Exspheres. Who'll do it then?"

"Zelos."

"Do you really want to leave such an important task in his hands?"

Lloyd laughed. "I suppose not."

The two sat in companionable silence for a while. Raine came down the stairs as Dirk was standing to hand the child he was holding to Lloyd so he could light the lanterns. "She wants to see you and her sons," Raine told Lloyd quietly. "I'll carry him," she said, taking Dirk from the dwarf. "Let's go to her."


	2. On Returning

"Aww, don't be such a baby, Dirk!"

The younger twin looked at the older with an expression of hurt. It had taken the young twins much planning to escape the watchful gaze of their mother and grandfather. Kratos had refused to reveal his intention to his brother until they had escaped; and now that they had, Dirk was refusing to go along with it. "Mama said there're monsters in there," the boy whined.

The twins had their mother's eyes and smile; their father graced them with his hair and personality, despite having been mostly absent from their short lives. Dirk seemed to be the more mature of the twins, understanding that Daddy had an important mission and he came home whenever he could- which was two years prior, at their third birthday. Their mother thought it a miracle that the boys could remember that he was there.

Kratos, on the other hand, resented his father. Sorely. "Mama's wrong," Kratos replied, hand on his small hip. "Besides, if anything happens to you, I'll protect you!"

Dirk sniffled. "Really really?"

"Really. Now come on! I wanna show you somethin'."

They were both extraordinarily bright, according to Professor Raine Sage. She wanted to start the twins in school next year, a concept both of them balked at. They would've much rather be free to explore, as they were doing now, Dirk on Kratos' heals and he led his brother through the Iselia woods. They came to a clearing with the overgrown ruins of a kind of fortress, long abandoned. Kratos pointed at the ruins. "See see? It's a castle!"

"Wooooooow," Dirk breathed, finally stepping forward. "Wonder if there's treasure in there?"

"Let's go see!" Kratos and Dirk dashed forward through the fortress gates, leading them to the courtyard. "Wow, you can really see the sky!" Kratos exclaimed, hands shielding his eyes from the glare of the afternoon sun.

"Look at that!" Dirk yelled, pointing up to the northern sky. Kratos followed his brother's gaze to a big, falling blue star that split in two. One side of the star kept going on it's trajectory to the north; the other fell, crashing into the trees of Iselia forest. "That looked like it might be a person," Dirk asked, worried.

"Think we should go see?"

"Mama says to never talk to strangers."

"But he might be hurt! Dwarven Vow number two-"

"Okay, okay!" Dirk gave in. "Not the Dwarven vows! Let's go."

The twins started out, crashing into the underbrush off the path, in the direction of the fallen star. They broke into a clearing, and came face to face with a monster.

Screams tore out of their throats, echoing painfully in the canopy of the woods, but it seemed nothing was around to hear them but the monster...

* * *

The man stared at his reflection in the stream. Reddish-brown eyes, messy auburn hair.

And no name. He was staring straight at himself, and yet couldn't put a name to the face he was staring at. _Amnesia..._? Yes, that was it. He remembered nothing but the last painful fifteen minutes. He didn't even know how he ended up in these strange woods.

A child's scream- no, two separate, distinct voices- pierced the air. The man stood abruptly, drew his sword, and dove into the underbrush in the direction of the screams. He saw the monster standing over the two cowering children as he lunged for them, barely managing to thrust his sword between them and the overgrown bug's claw. The swordsman wondered briefly how he knew how to use his weapon when he knew nothing else before tearing the sword upward, amputating the claw from the creature's arm.

One of the children- they were twins, he saw now- dragged the other behind him and demanded, "Who're you ?"

_Who ARE you?_

He shook the feeling of deja vu from his mind. "Get out of the way," he ordered them, bringing his sword to ready again. The creature howled in fury at him and stabbed at him with it's intact claw. The swordsman blocked and thrust forward, dispatching the monster; it vanished in thin air.

He sheathed his sword and turned to the trembling children. "Are you two all right?"

One to responded, the bigger twin. "We didn't need help!"

"Of course you didn't," the man replied with a slight smile that grew when the smaller twin hit the other. The little man then bowed deep. "Thank you for helping us, mister!"

The man knelt. "What are your names?"

The polite one pointed. "He's Kratos, and I'm Dirk! What's your name?"

"My... name?..." The man concentrated once again, thinking as hard as he could, trying to pull the name from the depths of his memory. "I wish I knew..."

"You don't have a name?" Dirk said. "That's so sad."

"Then we'll give you a name!" Kratos said with a flourish of his little hands, pointing. "You're Bob!"

The swordsman barely held back his laughter. "Bob, huh? It is a good name," he assured the child, then stood. "Where are your parents?"

Dirk and Kratos exchanged looks, then looked around. "Mama and Grandpa are at the house," Dirk offered, "but I'm lost."

"... me too." Kratos sat down with a huff, resting his hands in his chin. "Mama's gonna be mad at us now!"

The man watched the two for a second, then looked up at the sky. "I should get a fire started. The best thing would be to stay here until your mother or grandfather come looking for you."

"What if we get attacked again? Kratos asked, looking up at the man he called Bob.

The man smiled. "Then I'll protect you. Here, be good boys and-"

His words were cut off by a woman's loud scream, "_Kratos!_" followed by a deeper, accented voice yelling for Dirk. The man looked in the direction of the screams and hollored, "Over here! They're over here!"

There was a moment of hesitation before a blonde woman burst through the underbrush, looking around frantically. "Oh my goddess, you're safe!" she said hurriedly, kneeling and gathering her children to her. She looked up as the other burst into the clearing, a dwarf, whose eyes widened at the sight of the man. "In the name of the Goddess! What're _you_ doing here?"

The woman looked up at this and gasped. The swordman gave them an odd look. "Do you know me?" he asked.

"Well, that's an odd greeting, Kratos," the woman replied, looking slightly disturbed. "I hope they didn't cause you too much trouble. Here, come on, we'll go back to the house and-"

"Mama!" little Kratos squeaked. "His name's Bob! Not Kratos! That's _my_ name!"

The dwarf quirked an eyebrow at the children. "Bob, you say? Kratos?"

"Is that my name?" the swordsman asked quietly.

The woman and dwarf looked at each other, horrified. "He's lost his memory..." the woman said softly.

"So t'would seem," the dwarf replied, stepping towards the swordsman. "Yes, your name's Kratos indeed. This little one's named for ya," he said, ruffling the bigger twin's hair. "I'm Dirk and this is Colette. Ring any bells?"

"N-no, I'm sorry..."

"That's fine, lad, that's fine," Dirk said in a calming tone. "Colette, why don't we take him back to the house? One of us can get Raine in the morning to have a look at him."

"Yes, I think that's a good idea," Colette said, standing and holding little Dirk in her arms.

The dwarf picked up little Kratos, then nodded in the direction they came. "C'mon, lad, the house is this way. Don't you worry, Professor Sage'll fix you right up in a jiffy."

* * *

Blinding white filled his vision. Blinding, burning, cold white.

The Seraph drew himself up to his knees, coughing the icy white substance out of his lungs. "Flanoir... wonderful." Yuan shivered, drawing his cape around him closer against the wind, when a thought occured to him. He stood, turning around several times. "Kratos! _Kratos!_ " Then the memory of their separation came back to him. The other angel had run out of mana before they'd landed and had let go to save him, in hopes that he reached their destination unharmed.

He had not reached their destination. He was north of it. Very, very far north.

Cursing, Yuan gazed into the snowstorm intently, searching out the city. His angelic vision allowed him to see it in the distance, and he trudged forward, hoping he reached Flanoir before he froze to death.

_Otherwise_, he thought to himself grimly, _the world dies with me._


	3. On Being Ill

Zelos groaned in dismay as he was awoken, again, by his companion losing last night's dinner, yet again. He roused himself from beneath the blankets and grabbed his black tank-top, throwing it over his head and putting it on as he crept to the bathroom door. He waited for the retching to cease for half a minute before clearing his throat and speaking. "Lloyd, I really think we should head for Flanoir next."

The sound of the toilet flushing. "We're going to Altamira next," came the tired response. "Regal said we could gather Exspheres in Toize Mine."

"There's no doctor in Altamira," Zelos replied, trying not to get irritated with his companion- not yet...

"I don't need a doctor."

The irritation set in. "Yes, you do," he snapped. "You totally do." This had been going on for weeks, and it was getting much, much worse. "Colette will _kill_ me if I bring her husband back dead."

"I'm not dying!" Lloyd snapped back.

"Fine, you're not dying," Zelos replied smoothly, moving to get his overcoat. "You should probably have something to eat, some toast or something. I'll be back in a few hours."

The bathroom door opened, revealing a disheavaled Lloyd wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Where are you going?"

"Flanoir."

Lloyd finally returned his friend's irritation. "We can't afford him!" he snapped, and Zelos whirled on him, irritation finally giving way to anger.

"_You_ can't afford not to see him!" Zelos yelled. Lloyd flinched and Zelos cringed. "I'm sorry for yelling, bud. I'm _worried_ about you. You've been sick for weeks." Zelos sighed when Lloyd didn't respond. "Listen, I'll swing by Meltokio and dip into my savings. We should have plenty to pay him. This is on me, Lloyd."

Lloyd sighed. "Fine, fine, do what you want... I'll wait here."

"Good man." Zelos slapped Lloyd on the back and headed for the inn door. The pair were currently in Ozette, helping to rebuild the destroyed city. They found that the people of Ozette that had survived the attack by Cruxis- and there weren't many- needed physical laborers more than they needed money. The tiny group had managed to completely rebuild the inn and then some, in order to house all of the residents until the houses were built, and Lloyd and Zelos got free room and board for their troubles.

Goddess only knew how much longer the process would take. They occasionally got Altessa's help, although the dwarf was still bitter over the loss of his Tabatha to the newly reborn Martel.

Lloyd gathered his strength and got himself dressed, venturing down to the main area of the inn, where two pieces of buttered wheat toast and a glass of milk awaited him. Lloyd smiled to himself as he commanded his stomach to settle down and accept the food he was offering it. Zelos wasn't a man he thought he'd like, but once one got past the shallow vanity, you discovered a caring, deep person. Lloyd wondered what kind of tragedy struck to cause Zelos to hide his feelings beneath such a shallow mask.

His breakfast was interrupted by the sound of Zelos cursing loudly and a disturbing _crash_. Lloyd and the innkeeper both ran for the door to witness Zelos detanling himself from a smoking Rheiard; the machine seemed to be unharmed, but Zelos examined the gauges for a moment and cursed again. "It's empty! The fuel gauge is empty!"

Lloyd stared at the Rheiard in puzzlement. "How can it be empty?"

"I dunno, man, but I think we better get to Mizuho on the double. Something's wrong, and the quicker we get whatever this is resolved, the quicker we can get you seen by the doctor in Flanoir."

"To see Sheena. Right. We need to tell the mayor first."

"Got it. You get our stuff together, I'll go let him know we're leaving."

* * *

Raine Sage gazed on the auburn-haired man playing with the two babies, oblivious to her and her little brother's arrival. This was a man she hoped she'd never have to see again, the man who caused her students and friends so much grief and sorrow. She had been happy to see him go.

He wouldn't have come back without good reason to. She knew this very well. As tempting as it was to leave him in the condition he was in, she knew that there might be grave consequences to such an action. As such, she greeted, "Hello, Kratos."

Kratos looked up from his place on the floor, face flushing in embarrassment at being caught in such a position. He rose, to the protest of the children, who cheered and followed Cousin Genis to the upstairs room when he offered to play with them in Kratos's stead. Kratos watched Genis and the boys stomp up the stairs and turned back to Raine. "You are... Raine, correct?"

"That is correct," Raine responded. "Colette. What condition was he in when you found him?"

Colette shrugged. "Just like he is now. He wasn't hurt at all or anything."

"He was obviously hurt in some way," Dirk corrected, "for him to have lost his memory."

"Dirk's right," Raine said, reaching into her pocket and procuring the Unicorn horn. "I'm going to try to restore your memory, Kratos. You may experience a slight headache. Stop me if the pain gets severe." Raine took a deep breath; she'd never attempted to cure amnesia and wasn't sure how to go about it.

She was going to try, though. She held out the horn. "Hold onto this," she ordered, and Kratos grabbed the horn, his hand beside Raine's. She focused on the horn, willing the Angel to remember his past. She knew next to nothing of his past beside what they'd experienced together, so she focused on that, intensely, almost trying to transfer her recollection of the events seven years ago to him.

Kratos gasped after mere seconds. "Stop!"

Raine quickly pulled the horn from Kratos' grasp and Kratos fell back into a chair Dirk swung out behind him, just in the nick of time.

"That didn't work, did it?" Colette asked.

Raine looked at the blond girl and shook her head. Colette always had an affinity for the obvious. She considered any other possible ways to restore Kratos' memory; Origin was one possibility. Verisius, Sheena's former Spirit Corinne, was another. The Summon Spirit of the Heart was the closest, but would it appear without Sheena's help?

They had to try. Raine stood, smoothing her shirt. "We're going to the Martel Temple. Come quickly."

* * *

The Rheiards didn't work.

Yuan cursed loudly, kicking the one he'd prepared. Once he had more appropriate gear from Flanoir, it was a simple matter to trek to the defunct Renegade Base. It was still home to several dozen half-elves, all of whom were surprised to see their former commander back on the world. Fortunately, the Rheiards were still there.

Unfortunately, they failed to work.

Yuan recalled the conversation with Kratos that caused their trip back to the world; Origin, who Kratos had been in perpetual contact with for four thousand years, would not answer Kratos' inquiries. Even when helping Mithos in ways that betrayed Origin's intentions, Origin _always_ answered when Kratos called. Something was wrong; they confirmed that when they observed Derris-Kharlan _shrinking._

They had pinpointed where the mana of Derris-Kharlan was going; to the Great Yggdrasill Tree. Their theory was that the Tree, instead of providing the earth with mana, was actually absorbing it.

If the Rheiards didn't work, that meant there was something wrong with Volt. The near-blizzard conditions outside of Flanoir indicated something amiss with Celcius. There were at least three Summon Spirits that seemed to be out of control; Yuan guessed the rest were probably experiencing difficulties, as well.

And Yuan had no way of getting to either Lloyd or Sheena. Except by boat.

He sighed. He had no choice. With a breathed prayer to Martel, Yuan turned to the Renegade who had escorted him to the hangar. Remembering that he was no longer their leader, and had not been for almost ten years, he requested, "Would you prepare a boat for me at the dock?"

"Absolutely, sir."

Yuan frowned. "I'm not 'sir' anymore."

The Renegade met his gaze evenly. "Yes, sir, you are. You always will be." With that, the half-elf turned. "The boat will be ready tomorrow morning. Get some rest now, sir."


End file.
